DISSENTION IN THE RANKS
Jeff, I disagree with your recent editorial about the exclusion
of alcohol dragsters and alcohol Funny Cars at the recent
Sportsnationals (sic) race at No Problem. Both classes are/should
be professional classes, and I base that solely on one conclusion
--- the amount of money it takes to field one of these "sportsman"
categories.
You oughta know that yourself, having fielded an alcohol
dragster on the division and national level. If I remember
right, you had to have a partner to race the car, and a
partner means two or more people are splitting the bills.
Gone are the days (hey, that's part of a Grateful Dead song!)
when people like Tom Conway of Oklahoma raced an alcohol
dragster by himself and on his own nickel.
I guarantee you this
-- if wife Fran and I could race a legal Top Alcohol Dragster,
we'd do it. As it is, we can barely afford to show up at
a good bracket race with our two Super Pro dragsters in
tow, much less a T/AD. How much do you think a competitive
team has to have to race one -- a hundred grand? Two-hundred-thousand
dollars? More. I betcha more. Much more.
I like the concept of the Sportsnationals (sic again).
I especially like the idea of the Super Stock/A Automatics
running together, plus the U/Stock Automatic shootout.
What was it that George Howard said in one of his bracket
fliers of several years ago -- "No leaking alcohol
Funnies, no banging Pro Modifieds." Something like
that. Maybe I'm jaded, being around this stuff since 1961,
but I LIKE the idea of a Stock/Super Stock, Top Sportsman,
Top Dragster, "Super" and Competition Eliminator
race, nobody else invited.
Dale "the Old Man" Wilson
BURK REPLIES
Dale, like some of the other sportsman racers who have written,
you miss the whole point. There are plenty of low buck Alky
Funny car and dragster teams but that really isn't the point
either. The point is that the sanctioning body FORCES these
racers to be in the Sportsman class, adhere to the rules,
regulations and whims imposed on them by the National Hot
Rod Association, run at divisional tracks if they want to
try and win a World Championship. TAD/TAFC racers pay the
same as all other sportsman races for a membership, a gallon
of gas, or a big Mac, yet you and other drag racers don't
want them at "your" events. Talk about elitist
bullshit and an attitude completely alien to the philosophy
of the sport I fell in love with 40 years ago!
By the way, have you considered what the cost is to field
and race a competitive SS/AA car ($200,000 for the car and
$75,000 for a Ray Barton Hemi) or any of the purpose built
sportsman doorslammers that compete at the Sportsnationals?
One of my advertisers races in Super Gas and Super Comp.
He has his cars built by Jerry Bickel and has a brace of
Reher-Morrison 622 completes, and there are plenty of racers
like him in the sport. Tell me again how much it costs to
run a sportsman car. --JB
